Saturday, February 3, 2018

McCallister Pea & Seed Cleaners, Portage la Prairie

Allen McCallister came to Manitoba in 1897 from Grey North County, Ontario. He began growing peas in 1924, purchasing the turn-of-the-century commercial property in Portage in 1944 and constructed storage elevators for the family's bean and pea company, later becoming councillor, reeve and leader of various agricultural organizations. Located near 4th St N.E., just north of CP's yard, CP's Portage switcher is seen switching the operation in these photos kindly shared by Fred Clark. Fred photographed CP 6569 switching CPAA 89966 and two other patched Spruce Falls Power & Paper boxcars on July 11, 1984. Notice the peaked brick building at left.

Faithful Trackside Treasure reader Randy O'Brien sent a link to a fine Lawrence Stuckey photo of the operation, captioned 1987. Notice the assortment of new and old walls, pipes and bins. This photo from Brandon University archives.

August 22, 1978 finds me and CP 8702-4440-4030 in the yard. McCallister was in the background, as it was in so many photos, but rarely in the foreground.

Find McCallister in these Brian Schuff photos: CP 3028 with McCallister elevator in background (above) and CP 8734 working the Speno railgrinding train in the yard with the brick building visible (below):

The multimillion-dollar plant suffered a three-alarm fire on March 29, 1990. As firefighters arrived, an entire wall gave way. Two large silos were damaged but not burned. Also damaged were the processing area, one elevator and a storage quonset. At the time, the plant was named Canadian Pulse Processors Inc, the McCallister family having sold their last remaining shares in 1985. Damage was 1.7 million dollars. At the time, the Campbell's Soup plant and CFB Portage were slated to close, and this was another economic blow to Portage, and the six employes were also affected. The plant, owned by the Great Canadian Bean Company was a large buyer of local seeds, including peas, beans and lentils, buckwheat and grains, processing 10,000-15,000 tonnes per year, processed into export-oriented products like bird seed by Continental Grain.A handy little booklet entitled Early Architecture of Portage la Prairie, produced by the Manitoba Department of Cultural Affairs and Historical Resources - Historic Resources Branch in 1983 included these two bits of information on McAllister. A description of the original brick building, the Waterloo Manufacturing Company:

and a north-facing photo of the original brick building with elevators behind. On a model layout, this operation would be 'highly modellable'!

An early 20th-century Sanborn-type map showing the McCallister facilities:

Running extra...

Figuratively if not literally, I'm finding myself 'in' Portage la Prairie this week. I'm captioning up to 700 photos for my Trains & Grains two-volume book project. Views of CN, CP and VIA trains from almost every conceivable angle. Grain, hotshot, manifest, coal, roadswitcher and yardswitcher are all represented. You'll even find (OK, just one more) a view of McCallister in the distant background (why didn't I walk over that way at least once, camera in hand??) of this grain train meet on CP, photographed from the Skyline Bridge.

Speaking of the Skyline (easy to remember because it bears the same name as the mid-train Budd-built CPR dome) here's another model/proto photo that Randy shared, just to put to rest rumours that it's not actually officially called Skyline. Thanks, Randy!

My graphics 'expertise' involves pen and paper. It was 1980. My model railway needed a 'brand'. This was back when brands were still used only on cattle. I ended up with seventh row down, second from left, by the way!

It's good to see that I wasn't the only one who created a corporate brand for a model railway. Mine was CRC - Corunna Railway Company. Not the most geographically ambitious name, but I was in grade school.

ETU (Excellent Train URL's)

Rather Sketchy Profile

Eric Gagnon was born in Montreal, Quebec and has lived in Kingston, Ontario most of his life. Much time was spent trackside when not in school, college or practising as a medical laboratory technologist. Married with two children, Eric is also an HO-scale modeller, musician, avid reader and blogger, having launched his Canadian railfan blog Trackside Treasure in 2008. Eric's first book Trackside with VIA:The First 35 Years, published in 2011, was followed by two more in 2012: Trackside with VIA:Cross-Canada Compendium and Consist Companion. In 2017, Eric published his fourth book, Trackside with VIA - Research & Recollections. Eric's books can be found in museum gift shops, hobby shops and in the hands of VIA Rail enthusiasts across Canada, the United States and worldwide.

VIA 1970's-1980's Recordings on youtube by E-series-8-4-4

A Word about Attribution

Text is written by me unless shown quoted or otherwise attributed. Photos are taken by me unless attributed, linked to, or used with permission by the photographer. Trackside Treasure is ethically-sourced.

Waiting for VIA No 2

Winnipeg, 1984

Production! Production!

Applying a Tank Track, CPR Angus Shops

The Latest from Randy O'Brien. Thanks, Randy!

Keep Calm - from Randy O'Brien

My Second VIA Rail book

CLC ad undated

Doug Wright's immortal FPA4 going like stink!

I've Got a Fee-vah!

Boarding No 2 in June, 1982

Vestibule View

Comment allez-vous?

Do you comment? I thrive on your comments. The good news is, anyone can comment - but if you choose Anonymous, please leave a name at the end of your post. Word verification is in use, since spammers like popular blogs. To comment, simply click on the word 'comments' in any post footer, enter your comment, then select Comment as, then Publish. It's relatively easy! If you prefer, email me - my email address is mile179kingstonATyahooDOTca.

Header Photos

I have a habitually short attention span for header photos - usually the photo is something I've seen that catches my eye, and I trust it'll catch yours, too. I just can't keep the same photo up there for more than a few days' run. Whenever I ask the photographer for permission, appropriate credit is always given. Either way, I'll provide more detail whenever I can in the welcome message that follows the photo. If I can't, I'll make something up.